Can American Students Rediscover Their Creativity? David Kelley Thinks So

In his speech at last week's Aspen Ideas Festival, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman told attendees, "When we got out of college we had to find a job. When our kids get out of college they will have to invent a job." But how can students develop their job-creating, innovation-oriented talents if our education system remains centered on knowing and applying information instead of teaching creative, big-picture thinking?

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Fortunately, fellow Aspen participant David M. Kelley, a Stanford School of Engineering professor and the CEO of design and innovation consulting firm IDEO, says that even if students have internalized the belief that they're not creative, it's never too late for them to rediscover their right-brain abilities. In the video above, you can watch him debunk the belief that creativity is something you either have or you don't, and describe how if teachers and parents give students the right action-oriented fertilizer, in no time at all, those creative, inventive talents—the ones students need to make their own jobs instead of waiting for someone else to hire them—will re-emerge.